On 6 May 2025, CLIC had the pleasure of welcoming renowned author Caryl Phillips to Passa Porta in Brussels for an engaging reading and discussion of his brand-new novel, Another Man in the Street. The conversation explored themes of migration, belonging, and identity, and was moderated by Suzanne Scafe, a visiting professor at CLIC, who specializes in Caribbean, Black British, and Postcolonial literatures.
A brief excerpt from an earlier interview with Phillips on the topic:
“Evoking empathy might actually be more important than offering recognition. A story that fails to spark empathy is just a history lesson. In literature, you have to be able to feel the fears and worries of the characters. That’s always my starting point as a writer.
Only afterwards do I think about the social injustices I want to highlight. The people—the characters—are the engine of what I do. I try to understand why they do what they do. And empathy isn’t just a tool to understand people—it’s a tool to change minds.
No one is going to shift their opinion about Syrian refugees based on a history lecture. But they might change their view after meeting someone from Syria—after imagining what that person’s life is like. A novel is an attempt to create that kind of encounter. And in doing so, it’s a way of inviting people to feel, instead of telling them what they should feel.”
A few captured moments from this memorable event:
This event was part of the Ties that Bind Us Series and realised in cooperation with Passa Porta: International House of Literature and Bookshop and the Brussels Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Migration and Minorities (BIRMM).
